Nioh review: A brighter Dark Souls

Nioh shines through Dark Souls' shadow like a bonfire.

Game details

Developer: Team NinjaPublisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentPlatform: PS4Release Date: Feb. 7, 2016ESRB Rating: M for MaturePrice: $60/£40Links:PSN | Official websiteIt's impossible for a fan of From Software’s Dark Souls or Bloodborne to not see Nioh so clearly mimicking those games’ distinct styles. But the franchises Nioh cribs from rely so deeply on repetition, muscle memory, and hundreds of total hours of perseverance that even the smallest changes in dodge timing or invincibility frames are incredibly obvious. And Nioh changes a whole lot more than dodge timing.

One immediate difference Souls fans will notice after booting up the latest from Team Ninja (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden) is that it's not set in some ashy, dying Western fantasy world. While the tutorial starts in the Tower of London circa 1600, it's less than an hour before you wash up on the shores of a very vibrant-looking Japan. Don’t let the looks fool you, though—this locale is no less hostile than From Software's Lordran or Drangleic.

The time period places the game right at the tail end of Japan's Sengoku period, which is more important than you might think. Another of Nioh's departures from the Souls games is a plot that’s plainly presented, if not exactly straightforward.

You play as The Witcher's Geralt of Rivia "William," a character based on the real-world William Adams—the first Western samurai and one of only a handful to ever exist. Circumstances draw him to Japan, where he becomes embroiled in the war-torn politics of the era. The oddly descriptive, intricate plot is told partly through encyclopedia entries on the fictionalized historical figures William does business with, interspersed with dramatic shots of shoguns staring each other down in council chambers.

The story has little to do with William personally, though. He's only in Japan because a Celtic bird wizard stole his fairy friend, who can sniff out philosopher's stones. Of course, this leads Will to work for famous ninja Hanzo Hattori, fighting ghosts in order to secure political favors and alliances. All so they can fight the wizard that has William's fairy.

I couldn’t make that up if I tried.

Most of these fantasy bits are played just as cut-and-dried as the politicking. Nioh even respects and addresses little historical niggles—like the fact that an English sailor probably wouldn't speak Japanese in 1600. Dense history lessons rub shoulders with wizards, yokai, fairies, and swords made of lightning, and Nioh doesn't bat an eye. The bland acceptance of the surreal actually calls to mind the magical realism of Dynasty Warriors (or its Sengoku-based sister series Samurai Warriors) rather than Dark Souls.

Monster mashed

The moment-to-moment monster murder is all Souls, though. You have a stamina meter, and you'd better watch it at all times. You have a health meter, and Nioh's nigh-indestructible, poisonous, hit point-drinking bosses think it's just adorable. Make no mistake: you will die a lot playing Nioh, and you will drop whatever experience points you were carrying at the time when you do. Enemies will ambush you around corners and knock you into a bottomless pit, too.

That should sound incredibly familiar to any Souls fan. Having played all of From Software's punishing RPGs, I'd say Nioh is even harder by comparison. You notice it in the obvious, fleeting ways. The game's second proper boss, for instance, can paralyze you, steal your health, fly out of range of melee attacks, and create pockets into the netherworld that drain your stamina faster than normal.

The blacksmith has her own entire world of upgrades to worry about.

Guardian Spirits are useful for a lot of reasons, but mostly confer stat bonuses.

Political intrigue!

The game is split into missions and each one gives unique rewards.

There's an encyclopedia entry for just about everyone and... Everything.

No, no, no, no, no, no!

Puppy spirit!

Of course Nioh has a Blighttown.

Not all bosses are three stories tall.

That's a good way to make a bunch of angry ghosts.

Combat is graceful, but incredibly tense.

Amid the similarities, though, there are some smaller, more esoteric tweaks on the familiar battle mechanics. Blocking or getting hit when Will's stamina reaches zero stuns him for significantly longer than in Souls games, leaving him wide open to follow-up slams, slashes, venom, and paralysis. In one boss battle, a single stunning mistake can lead to an instant, one-hit-kill "screw you" attack.

Nioh uses a thoughtful trio of "stances" for each of its major weapon types. High stance puts out more damage, mid stance grants greater defense, and low stance puts less strain on William's stamina. Flitting between the modes of attack on the fly grants a dance-like quality to combat. You weave between enemy attacks, learn the intricacies of spear and sword animations, and deduce how many strikes you can get away with before reprisal.

The pain train

At its best, there's a grace to it that even Dark Souls and Bloodborne can't match. But the dance feels awfully futile against the dread locomotives Nioh calls bosses, as they simply charge straight through you at full steam. That would be a bigger problem if William wasn't such a pain train himself. The samurai has an intimidating arsenal of agonizing tricks to compensate for the game's higher difficulty. The onus is on the player to actually remember and use them all, though.

60 frames or 30?

The game lets you select from three visual settings, whether played on a normal PS4 or a more powerful "Pro" console: higher resolution, higher frame rate, or splitting the difference. Pro systems get higher resolutions across the board, while all systems can run at either 60 or 30 frames per second. After so many hours of play, we insist: go for the higher frame rate. The "action" mode's 60 Hz refresh is mostly locked and feels wonderful in combat, where you're less likely to notice lower resolutions (which change dynamically based on on-screen action).

Ignore the middle setting. Its variable refresh introduces too much judder.Nioh might just be the most mechanically dense action RPG I've played in years. Besides dumping experience points into ever more costly stats, a Nioh player has to deal with individual skill trees for every class of weapon, every bonus magic spell, and every bit of ninja trickery. Then there are two more progression charts that provide flat bonuses to things like stamina for earning in-game achievements.

Even the semi-randomized re-forging of weapons at an in-game blacksmith between missions is fraught with strategic choices. Do you like a particular skill tied to a particular weapon? You can level the weapon up and pass its bonuses on to a new one. Or you can essentially feed a higher grade weapon to the one you like to raises its overall stats. Don't like a specific skill on a helmet you really want to keep? You can re-roll it for a chance at something better (so long as you have enough resources). Just like the look of a particular pair of double blades? You can transfer its appearance to something more effective. Even the blacksmith herself can be leveled up after a while.

You'll spend a lot of time smithing in Nioh, too, if you know what's good for you. Unlike in Dark Souls, missions and boss fights are infinitely repeatable. That means you can grind through extra stabs at getting rare, semi-random loot drops. In fact, if you want to play cooperatively with a friend, the pair of you can only repeat missions that the host has beaten before. This means the only way to duet your way through unbeaten bosses is by summoning strangers mid-match. Whichever way you do it, though, most of what you earn will be fuel for the smith's many complex functions.

An ace (or four) up your sleeve

All that doesn’t even touch on the minuscule demigods hidden in levels that grant you higher item, gold, experience, or healing item drop rates. Then there’s the menagerie of guardian spirits that bestow unique stat bonuses, and the quick time event-like ability to win back some of William's endurance after every attack. At some point, you unlock so many cards to play in any given situation that Nioh's greatest challenge becomes remembering your whole hand.

Basic survival skills like Will's "Ki Pulse" (the character's second wind) feel almost mandatory quite quickly. It took me quite a while to make this essential skill second nature, especially since my muscles remembered the very specific and different rhythms of Souls games.

It's the less ubiquitous skills I had to keep reminding myself about. For instance, I might slap my forehead in disgust when I remembered, after a boss beat me into cat food, that William can turn himself invincible for short periods. The frustration of dying in one of these games is a lot worse when you remember that there were a half-dozen ways you could have prevented it.

To its credit, Nioh does an honest job of trying to prevent that frustration. Nearly every tutorial lesson can be accessed from the same hub as the blacksmith for reference. The blacksmith herself lets you select items for deconstruction in bulk and even lets you adjust in last chance messages asking, "Are you sure you want to destroy this item?" according to the equipment's rarity. The story, character biographies, and cut scenes can all be accessed for future reference from the in-game encyclopedia. And every wonderfully rendered, slavering, and/or chitin-covered Oni comes with its own bestiary entry based on Japanese folklore.

The extra flavor is so dense that it's almost discouraging, depending on how much you want to read about "modified" Japanese history and mythology. It's all there, in any case, if you find yourself getting lost in a plot that sometimes seems to assume you already know who Tokugawa Ieyasu was.

Rinse your blade and repeat

The story can largely be ignored, though, in favor of something else From Software fans are likely already familiar with: the brutal grind of lived and fictional experience. The same way William gets hale and heartier mathematically, you yourself become so intangibly. Like Demon's and Dark Souls before it, Nioh finds ways to reward the repetition and memorization inherent to all games with tiny, hard-won signs of congratulations. Nioh just happens to have 10 times the number of ways to show that congratulations, with more skill trees, randomized loot, and collectibles than all of Team Ninja's obvious source material put together.

At points, that accumulation of disparate parts starts to feel almost too eclectic, especially when the heat of a boss' burning blade is at your throat. Thankfully, the game is so polished, and the play experience so smooth, that the dozens of hours you'll need to master all these skills never feels like a chore. Meanwhile, it doesn't hurt that the game's tone and setting keep it at least one step separate from direct Dark Souls comparisons. That makes it that much easier to fall under and appreciate Nioh's unique trance, brought on by glinting blades and enormous, mystifying enemies.

The good

Combat is a brutal, graceful dance of blades, stances, and timing

The attention to detail across the game's many systems is staggering

Bosses, while harsh, stand out with a unique Japanese folklore flare

Nioh rewards repetition in all the right ways laid out by Dark Souls

The bad

The story and mechanics can be daunting and even tough to remember

The ugly

Remembering that you can turn yourself invincible right after a boss caves in your head

Verdict:Nioh makes no bones about standing in the shadows of giants, but it extends and polishes the Dark Souls formula so much that it manages to shine just as brightly. Buy it.

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56 Reader Comments

Awesome! I pre-ordered this one over the weekend after seeing some very favorable initial reviews. Souls is my favorite series by far and I've been looking for something new to scratch that itch since I've played those games to death (and while waiting for the Ringed City DS3 DLC).

Out of curiosity, is the sizable copyright notice on every screenshot something the game automatically adds to every screenshot you take, something that Ars has decided to do themselves on screenshots for game reviews, or indicative of images that came from Koei Tecmo as part of a press kit?

Part of what makes me love the Souls series are the top notch atmospherics, the subtle story telling, and the sparse, almost poetic dialogue. Doesn't sound like Nioh captures this part of the formula quite so well, though the mechanics appear to be on point. Would love to check this out for myself, if only I had a PS4!

Steven, I read elsewhere that the developers put in different graphics settings (one that gets continuous 60 FPS with reduced graphical fidelity, one locked at 30 FPS but high fidelity, and one a mixture of both) - did you mess with those at all? I'm curious how much fidelity is sacrificed for the always 60 FPS option.

I did what I never do and pre-ordered this game. I've finished a few of the From Software Souls-type games as well as Team Ninja games so I know what to expect and I like a game with a decent challenge. This game was released just in time too since I just finished up Lords of the Fallen (a similar Soul-like like) this past weekend so I'll put off starting anything new until my shipment arrives this week.

Steven, I read elsewhere that the developers put in different graphics settings (one that gets continuous 60 FPS with reduced graphical fidelity, one locked at 30 FPS but high fidelity, and one a mixture of both) - did you mess with those at all? I'm curious how much fidelity is sacrificed for the always 60 FPS option.

Very interesting, I'd like more info on that as well. Playing bloodborne, especially coming back to it after DS3 on the pc, I felt like its gameplay aims were quite let down by the poor framerate. I'd most definitely take an option for '60 fps, uglier' if Nioh had one (well, I'd most prefer a pc port but that's beside the point).

Regarding the review, I'm not too sure I can get into the whole 'more complex but in a good way' sentiment; at some point your description of the mechanics starts to sound more like a ninja gaiden game than anything else. That said, I haven't tried Nioh so I won't knock it too hard. If it's anywhere as close as dark souls in terms of level/encounter design and overall 'adversity overcoming' quotient I think I'd definitely enjoy it.

Steven, I read elsewhere that the developers put in different graphics settings (one that gets continuous 60 FPS with reduced graphical fidelity, one locked at 30 FPS but high fidelity, and one a mixture of both) - did you mess with those at all? I'm curious how much fidelity is sacrificed for the always 60 FPS option.

Your question has been answered to some extent; check the article for a new sidebar. We tested on both stock and Pro hardware, but did not use pixel-counting hardware to check exactly how much the resolution dynamically changes (though it does in all modes on both types of systems).

Regarding the review, I'm not too sure I can get into the whole 'more complex but in a good way' sentiment; at some point your description of the mechanics starts to sound more like a ninja gaiden game than anything else.

Just gonna add that I concur with Steven after my own pre-release time with the game. I'm a bit of a Soulsborne outsider/dunce, and I found myself riveted by Nioh's twists on the genre. The "Ki recharge" taps and the stance-swapping taps really make combat feel like quite the dance.

Steven, I read elsewhere that the developers put in different graphics settings (one that gets continuous 60 FPS with reduced graphical fidelity, one locked at 30 FPS but high fidelity, and one a mixture of both) - did you mess with those at all? I'm curious how much fidelity is sacrificed for the always 60 FPS option.

If you look back up, you'll see that Ars superhero Sam Machkovech just added a sidebar about it. But, just two give you my two cents, I agree with Sam. 60fps is the way to play. You notice the variable framerate a lot more than the resolution drops. Also, as Sam says, you barely notice the graphical changes in the heat of combat anyway.

The biggest graphical oddity I noticed is a lot of dithering on objects in the extreme foreground. I'm not sure if that's related to the resolution modes, but it's definitely noticeable. Although it keeps those objects from getting in the way of your camera.

Steven, I read elsewhere that the developers put in different graphics settings (one that gets continuous 60 FPS with reduced graphical fidelity, one locked at 30 FPS but high fidelity, and one a mixture of both) - did you mess with those at all? I'm curious how much fidelity is sacrificed for the always 60 FPS option.

I'd appreciate some insight as well. Digital Foundry posted an article diving into the topic, but more info is definitely welcome.

I'm also curious about the grind and game world's expanse. I think Nioh offers no pvp? If I'm remembering that right, it doesn't jibe well with some of the stuff I've read that makes me fear I'll be spending more time staring at menus versus smashing newly encountered enemies.

For all it does right, its padding is obvious and often obnoxious. Several side missions are set in the recycled maps (often condensed versions of the main stages portrayed during a different time of day) and the game's bestiary is a little on the light side. The first time you face off against a giant ogre it's exciting; by the 30th time, it's a bit of a drag.

I'm a huge FROM software fan, but some of the reviews about Nioh have me sitting on the fence till Ars' GESC gives a more detailed take.

Nice to see Team Ninja doing something a little different. They've tapped the Ninja Gaiden well to death over the years. Dead or Alive has been very disappointing. In fact, they seemed good with just re-releasing those games over and over, and over in various incarnations. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round was an icky thing that burned me big time.

Out of curiosity, is the sizable copyright notice on every screenshot something the game automatically adds to every screenshot you take, something that Ars has decided to do themselves on screenshots for game reviews, or indicative of images that came from Koei Tecmo as part of a press kit?

The game adds those. I'm amazed Koei Tecmo didn't somehow smother this review's text in a bunch of obnoxious watermarks, as well.

Out of curiosity, is the sizable copyright notice on every screenshot something the game automatically adds to every screenshot you take, something that Ars has decided to do themselves on screenshots for game reviews, or indicative of images that came from Koei Tecmo as part of a press kit?

That is something the game does to every screenshot taken with the PlayStation 4's share button, I'm afraid. If you look at my Yakuza 0 review for the site, Sega did something similar with that game. All the screenshots were taken by me, personally, however.

In the future I might start recording games with my capture card to sidestep this problem. I find it pretty annoying, myself.

I believe everything in this review and applaud the developers for the sheer effort they have put into this game and seek acceptance by an established community. That said, the coffin nail for all of it is a cardinal sin many developers do to be different or whatever reason they justify it with. That grievous error is to change very rudimentary controls of an accepted type for a genre. Souls players and especially Bloodborne players have ingrained circle button dodge.

This was a monumental big deal to me on the demo. So much so I had to go into acccessability and switch X and circle button in functionality. Which also causes a host of problems. All that had to be done (and hopefully they have) is include an alternate layout for Bloodborne style. If it was on PC I would easily do this through Steam OS. But it's not (yet).

It's as aggravating as using Nintendo after years of PS3-4 and Xbox with thier swapping of A and B functionality. Not only do I refuse to relearn my dodge, but I also refuse to muddy the waters on dodge when I return to play Souls games.

Hopefully this is a non issue at midnight and the control scheme is included (or patched in).

This means the only way to duet your way through unbeaten bosses is by summoning strangers mid-match.

How does the summoning work, vs Dark Souls? I mean, are there spots before the bosses where random helpful strangers are likely to hang out? Are there limits (consumable items) to summoning? Obviously much will depend on how big the community becomes, but what are the summoning mechanics like?

I've played through Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, but in all honesty the only reason I completed both of them was because I could summon help for the approx. 50% of bosses that just continually kicked my ass. Solo the levels, summon for the bosses (where necessary).

If I'm stuck trying to solo the bosses here then I'll just have to accept the game's not for me, which is a shame 'cos it looks great otherwise.

I think I'll be buying it. I've been waiting for the inevitable "Dark Souls knockoff, but with the same polish and good design sense" game to come out for a while now. There have been a few attempts, with some going better than others (Lords of the Fallen was the more half-assed style of knockoff) but it sounds like Nioh really ticked all the right boxes.

"Like Dark Souls but less oppressively dreary" is pretty much exactly what I've been waiting for.

Never got into the Souls games, because they just seemed like such miserable settings to spend dozens of hours in.

That's an interesting criticism, given that most people who avoid Souls games tend to do so for gameplay reasons rather than the setting.

I personally enjoy the setting a lot. One thing I really like about it is that the player and the character are both witnessing the aftermath of some big events, rather than seeing them unfold first-hand. It really adds to the exploratory and somewhat investigative tone of the story and setting. It breaks a lot of fantasy conventions in some very good ways.

"Like Dark Souls but less oppressively dreary" is pretty much exactly what I've been waiting for.

Never got into the Souls games, because they just seemed like such miserable settings to spend dozens of hours in.

That's literally the entire point of Dark Souls, though, and I find it extremely sad and frustrating to see someone dismiss the series and rob themselves of one of the finest gaming experiences because of its perceived settings. Remove it and it no longer works as a souls game and ironically, is probably one of the major ponts that will keep me from getting into Nioh. The player character is in a miserable, dark, brutally oppressive, beautiful, stunning and wonderfully designed world, and they ultimately overcome it; not because they are ~destined~ or whatever, but because they simply have the willpower to get back up and keep on fighting, fate be damned, until one day the PC wins.

Lose the darkness, the misery, the fragile and ruined beauty, and you lose the heart of the series.

I'll probably pick this up and have some fun with it, but I felt compelled to comment on something here.

I found it jarring that the author tries to sell Nioh to Dark Souls fans by praising its gameplay while simultaneously dismissing the story. Dark Souls isn't a great game simply because it's hard. There are plenty of difficult games out there, many harder than Souls. Instead, it's great because its gameplay and its story/lore/atmosphere are woven together (see, e.g., MrBtongue's Dark Souls 2012 youtube video).

So when the author says, "The story can largely be ignored" I don't find that reassuring, in fact I feel less confident about this game now.

I gave the demo 3 chances and mostly wrote it off because of that 'Ki Pulse' mechanic. I don't know if I was too early or too late, frequently forgot about it, decided to ignore it, then found out that many skills give bonuses after a 'perfect' ki pulse. I wanted to like the game and was intrigued by the variety of weapons and skills and could see spending a long time with it but for that one mechanic. I'm still keeping my eye on it, maybe give it a 4th chance when the price drops.

Part of what makes me love the Souls series are the top notch atmospherics, the subtle story telling, and the sparse, almost poetic dialogue. Doesn't sound like Nioh captures this part of the formula quite so well, though the mechanics appear to be on point. Would love to check this out for myself, if only I had a PS4!

"Like Dark Souls but less oppressively dreary" is pretty much exactly what I've been waiting for.

Never got into the Souls games, because they just seemed like such miserable settings to spend dozens of hours in.

That's literally the entire point of Dark Souls, though, and I find it extremely sad and frustrating to see someone dismiss the series and rob themselves of one of the finest gaming experiences because of its perceived settings. Remove it and it no longer works as a souls game and ironically, is probably one of the major ponts that will keep me from getting into Nioh. The player character is in a miserable, dark, brutally oppressive, beautiful, stunning and wonderfully designed world, and they ultimately overcome it; not because they are ~destined~ or whatever, but because they simply have the willpower to get back up and keep on fighting, fate be damned, until one day the PC wins.

Lose the darkness, the misery, the fragile and ruined beauty, and you lose the heart of the series.

Doesn't sound like they're robbing themselves of anything if they know they don't like the setting. It isn't sad if someone looks at a game and says "That isn't my style". The fact that you then say you won't get into NIOH because of setting is strange since you basically just said that was a sad reason for the poster to not have wanted to play DS.

This means the only way to duet your way through unbeaten bosses is by summoning strangers mid-match.

How does the summoning work, vs Dark Souls? I mean, are there spots before the bosses where random helpful strangers are likely to hang out? Are there limits (consumable items) to summoning? Obviously much will depend on how big the community becomes, but what are the summoning mechanics like?

I've played through Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3, but in all honesty the only reason I completed both of them was because I could summon help for the approx. 50% of bosses that just continually kicked my ass. Solo the levels, summon for the bosses (where necessary).

If I'm stuck trying to solo the bosses here then I'll just have to accept the game's not for me, which is a shame 'cos it looks great otherwise.

(Edited for clarity)

There are gates you can hit up and choose to summon a random. The gates are usually placed much like Bonfires, somewhat close to the boss fights.

Alternately, before you launch a level, you can find someone to play through the whole level with. Really, this is the best way to play Nioh, I think. The souls games usually feel cheap with an additional player, but Nioh seemed to throw more enemies at you simultaneously, making a coop player good for enemy management, not the "go-ham" party that the souls games are on coop.

I believe everything in this review and applaud the developers for the sheer effort they have put into this game and seek acceptance by an established community. That said, the coffin nail for all of it is a cardinal sin many developers do to be different or whatever reason they justify it with. That grievous error is to change very rudimentary controls of an accepted type for a genre. Souls players and especially Bloodborne players have ingrained circle button dodge.

This was a monumental big deal to me on the demo. So much so I had to go into acccessability and switch X and circle button in functionality. Which also causes a host of problems. All that had to be done (and hopefully they have) is include an alternate layout for Bloodborne style. If it was on PC I would easily do this through Steam OS. But it's not (yet).

It's as aggravating as using Nintendo after years of PS3-4 and Xbox with thier swapping of A and B functionality. Not only do I refuse to relearn my dodge, but I also refuse to muddy the waters on dodge when I return to play Souls games.

Hopefully this is a non issue at midnight and the control scheme is included (or patched in).

Isn't this the complaint many people have when starting their first Souls game? Your comment reminds me very much of that funny-in-retrospect review for one of the old AvP games, which lamented the "terrible design in which the left joystick moves you forward, backward, and *strafes*, while the right joystick for some reason tilts your view up and down, and turns you left and right. Why anyone thought this was a good idea is beyond me."

I'd agree about customizable controls normally being a good thing, if nothing else for accessibility reasons, but I'm not sure it can be called a "cardinal sin".

"Like Dark Souls but less oppressively dreary" is pretty much exactly what I've been waiting for.

Never got into the Souls games, because they just seemed like such miserable settings to spend dozens of hours in.

Why is this post being downvoted? "I don't like broccoli" doesn't harm anyone else, and it's a matter of preference. Heck, this is my feeling too - I dislike the style of horror/dread games that are about exploring a dreary world and then, surprise, the ending doesn't actually have you beat the bad guys at all, and your character gets corrupted and becomes the next dark god. Give me Mario, the Hero of Time, and give me the chance to save Princess Bowser from Metroid, and even as cliche as those stories can be, they can still give me a sense of investment; there's positive upswings to that emotional tone.

Now, since people love Dark Souls, it does seem like not everyone wants the same stories. That's great, awesome. I don't think you'll like the stories I like. Just...don't be a jerk about it.

I would've liked to see this review at least acknowledge that there are other reasons to like Dark Souls than "good combat and brutal difficulty".

Different people have different reasons to like Dark Souls, and it seems a bit myopic to declare Nioh to be the "heir" to that series just because it caters to the specific subset of Souls fans that the reviewer falls into.

It sounds like it "extends and polishes" the small subset of the Dark Souls formula that the reviewer happens to care about, while throwing the rest in the trash. That will no doubt make a number of Souls fans very happy, but that also means it'll do precisely nothing for Souls fans who weren't especially enthused about masochistic difficulty levels and didn't care about invincibility frames, but who liked the atmosphere and the subtle but complex story and worldbuilding, who enjoyed the challenge of unpicking the story.

Why is this post being downvoted? "I don't like broccoli" doesn't harm anyone else, and it's a matter of preference. Heck, this is my feeling too - I dislike the style of horror/dread games that are about exploring a dreary world and then, surprise, the ending doesn't actually have you beat the bad guys at all, and your character gets corrupted and becomes the next dark god. Give me Mario, the Hero of Time, and give me the chance to save Princess Bowser from Metroid, and even as cliche as those stories can be, they can still give me a sense of investment; there's positive upswings to that emotional tone.

Now, since people love Dark Souls, it does seem like not everyone wants the same stories. That's great, awesome. I don't think you'll like the stories I like. Just...don't be a jerk about it.

It's downvoted because ever since reddit democracy, every person you meet is the smartest person in the world and your opinion doesn't count no matter how reasonable it is unless you happen to be on the side of the mob, whichever way it's swinging.Yeah, everything is cynicism. Even Red Dead Redemption. Someone needs to make a Don Quixote-like (MAKE NOTE, I NOW OWN THE INTELLECTUAL TERM QUIXOTELIKE™) where the dullard do-gooder is laughed at but raises everyone's mood and sense of brotherhood in the process.Sadly, though, unsure if there's a Mariofuture to be had in video gaming. Things are so bleak.